Integrated economic and fuzzy multi-criteria analysis for evaluating performance of fishing systems

Fishing has progressed from a subsistence activity to a multi-billion-dollar industry, but overfishing has put significant pressure on fishery resources, causing management and financial challenges. Evaluation of the comparative economics and performance of different fishing systems to identify the best fishing system will help to promote sustainable fishing envisioned by UN SDG Agenda 2030. The study was conceptualized to analyze the performance of fishing systems integrating economic and multi-criteria analysis. Total of 150 fishers from five different fishing systems viz. multiday trawler, multiday gillnetter, purse and ring seiner, motorized and non-motorized (traditional) systems has been considered for the study with eleven performance indicators. Methodologies like fuzzy VIKOR (FVIKOR), a multi-criteria decision-making approach that ranks alternatives by measuring their distance from the ideal solution, cost–benefit analysis and descriptive statistics were adopted to analyze the data. The FVIKOR analysis revealed that the motorized crafts followed by multiday gillnetter, purse and ring seiner, multiday trawler and non-motorized craft exhibited the best performance respectively. And the benefit-cost (BC) analysis revealed the maximum profitability for multiday gill netters with B-C ratio of 1.52 followed by motorized (1.49), purse & ring seiners (1.45), multiday trawler (1.20) and non-motorized (1.07) fishing systems. In contrast to the traditional deterministic and mono-criterial approach, integrating economic analysis with fuzzy multicriteria framework has helped to improve the knowledge of various fishing systems. FVIKOR methodology allows analysis of comprehensive performance of fishing systems more efficiently and conveniently. It is very helpful to aggregate the different indicators into a single composite index, making it easier to grasp the results, conveying relevant information for decision making in fisheries management.